Automatic lubricating device for rolling mills



H. N. LITTLE ANI) I/V. B. GORIVIELY. AUTOMATIC LUBRICATING DEVICE FORROLLING IvIILLs. APPLICATION FILED MAY 7. T921.

z-tovifa'an n. Lieren .ann B. @oai/ism?, Looicroar, NEW '55eme AUTOMATQLUBRICATNG DEVECE FOR aOiLNG- J'EILLS.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

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.E J- I aiented ring. T922.

Application filed 'May '7, 1921. Serial No. 467,731.

To (di whom 'it may concern Be it known that we. HOWARD iN. Lir'riai andXVALTER B. Goimnm', citizens of the United States residingr 'at`Lockport, in the county of Niagara and State of New York. have inventedcertain neiv and useful lmprovements in Automatic Lubricating Devicesfor Rolling ltiiills, of which thev following is a specication.

Uur invention relates to improvements in automatic lubricating' devicesfor rolling mills. more especially to means for lubricating oppositesides of sheet metal adapted to be passed through rolling mills forreducincr the thickness of the sheet metal.

As now generally practiced. sheet metal, especially sheet copper inrolled form, is passed to and between the rolls of a rolling mill, andbefore entering` the mill, the parts thereof are lubricated or oiledmanually by means of an oil brush or swab passed back and forth by anoperator standing at the side of the roll of metal. This results inportions of the metal receiving' more ooil than other portions, and insome instances, the portions thereof passed between the rolls of themill without being` oiled become scaled or other imperfections of thesheet metal are caused. This method of oiling also results in aconsiderable waste of oil and is therefore expensive and at timesineffective. especially when thus oiled by an in experienced or acareless operator.

. rl'hc primary object of our invention is to provide an automaticlubricating or oiling device in which oil is evenly fed, delivered,

- or transmitted onto both sides of the sheet metal, no more oil beingused. when the device is properly adjusted. than is absolutelynecessary, with the result that a considerable savinlgT of oil willresult from the use of this invention over a period of time.

a further object of our invention is to provide an oiling device inconjunction .with a roll of sheet metal, so arranged that when thedevice is in action, it will be situ-o ated directly over the sheetl.metal at the point where it leaves the-roll ina single strand orthickness; and iii placing' between the single strand or thickness andthe rolled portion of.the. metal, a distributer which rolls in contactwith opposite sides of the sheet metal and which is so constructed thatmill.

oil delivered thereonto will thoroughly cover the .exterior thereof. sothat all portions of opposite sides of the sheet metal will bethoroughly and evenly lubricated.

A. still further object of our invention `is` to provide an oilingdevice which is movable so that it can be placed in position to oil thedistributer hereinbefore referred to, or so that it may be moved to oneside in order that a new roll may be placed within the'box-likestructure in which the rolled material is placed and from which it. isdrawn in a single strand or thickness to be fed toand between the rollsof the rolling- With the above and other objects in view, our invention`consists in the-novel features ot construction and in the arrangementand 'combination ofpaits to be hereinafter described and moreparticularly pointed out in the subjoined claims.

ln the drawings Fig. l is a sectional elevation. showing` our improveddevice associated with a pair of guide rolls and the rolling' rolls of arolling machine. i

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the device.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged longitudinal section taken on line 3 3, Figa?. I

Fig. 4 is a. vertical transverse section taken on line 4 4, Fig. 3. l

Fig. 5 is an'A enlarged horizontal section through a portion of theroll-receiving box taken on line 5 5, Fig'. 2.

It is to be understood that our improved device inay be used inconnection with any form of rolling mill, and for this reason we havenot deemed it necessary to illustrate more than the two rolling' rollsof a mill. between which rolls the metaltis to be passed, and two Zguiderolls to guide the sheet metal, which guide rolls may, however, in manycases be omitted, or other parts serving the same purpose substitutedtherefor..

.. Thin sheet metal material, and especially sheet copper or sheet brassis invariably kept in roll form, and when passing` the same 10o vthrougha rolling' machine for reducingl the thickness thereof. the roll ofVsheet metal is placed within a roll-receiving box or box-like retainerof the type shown in the drawings and designated by the numeral 6,saidboxlike retainer being supported on a suitable frame-work T, and inreality serving as a support for the rolled sheet metal. The sheet metalin roll form is gradually unrolled, and the portion unrolled is passedupwardly out of the box-like retainer and passed between suitableguiding elements, such as shown by the guide rollers 8 in Fig. 1, fromwhich it is continued rearwardly and directed through the pass providedbe tween the'two rolling rolls 9 forming part of any type of rollingmachine.

As hereinbefore stated, the guiding de- `vice formed by the rolls 8 mayat times be omitted, orother guiding means substituted therefor-Therolling metal is so placed within thebO'x-like"` retainer that itwill uncoil from the side closest to the rear of said container or theside closest to the rollingV machine, as at 10, Fig. 3, thus providing acrotch or V-shaped space 11 between the rolled portion and that part ofthe unrolled portion adjacent said rolled portion, the unrolled portionof the sheet metal being v shown at. 12.

As kfar as known, the unrolling of the sheet-metal from the rear of theroll is a Inew departure and has not heretofore been used, as" it hasbeen the practice to unroll the metal from the front or forward portionof the roll, but in the use of our improvedA oiling device, the crotchor substantially V-shaped space 11-is utilized to good advantage, aswill be explained hereinafter.

The bottoni 13 of the box-like retainer G is slanted rearwardly, asshown, sothatduring the unrolling of the metal the tendency of the rollis to move rearwardly along the inclined bottom, thus assuring the.forma-l tion of the crotch or V-shaped space between the unrolledportion of the rolled portion of the metal at all times.

l15 designates a support or upright fastened to one of the sides of thebox-like retainerv 6, as at 16, and secured thereto at asuitabledistance above the box-like retainer is a collar 17. 18designa-tes a combined oilcontainer aridy feeder, it being preferablyformed rectangular and the container portion, designated by the numeral19, has a bottom 20, side-walls 21, and. end walls 22,

v' said end walls being continued downwardly a distance below the bottom20, as at 23. The portions 23 maybe referred to as downward extensionsofsaid end walls and they are ltapered toward their lower ends.

'Between the downwardl extensions 23 of `said end walls an oil-trough 241s arranged,

i said trough being V-shaped in cross section and divided into a numberof chambers 25 by transverse walls or partitions 26.. The lower end ofthe trough is provided'with numerous small oil feeding openings 27 aseries being provided for each chamber 25.

y The combined oil retainer and feeder has brackets 2S secured to oneend wall thereof,

said brackets having openings therethrough and being passed over thesupport or up right 15, the lower bracket 28 bearing against the collar17 secured on said bracket so as to pivotallyhold said combined oilcontainer and feeder in elevated position, with' Athe lower end of theoil-trough 24C a short distance above the level of the upper edges ofthe box-like container l6.

In lthe bottomwall 20 of the oil-container portion 19, pet cocks 29ersimilar elements are secured -in order to feed oil from said containerportion into the trough 24 ofthe device, one pet cock being arrangedover each chamber 25 of said trough.

In' the drawings we have shown ythe oil container portion 19 equippedwith five pet cocks and the trough 241directly beneath with fiveoilchambers 25 ,and in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the two end pet cocks areshown closed, while the three intermediate pet cocks are opened andfeeding oil into the three intermediate chambers 25 of the trough; thefeeding being arranged as described, due to the fact that the sheetmetal to be oiled is approximately of, a width equaling the length ofthe three intermediate chambers 25 of said trough.

In the crotch or V-shaped space 11 formed between the rolled portion ofthe metal and the unrolled portion, we arranged a distributer in theform of a roll- 30 which -is suitably constructed of a length of pipe'land a felt or other absorbent covering 32;

The box-like container 6 is provided with movable supplemental sidewalls 33, opposite endsl ofwhich are fitted in grooves provided at theinner side of the rear and front walls of said box-like container bycrimping a sheet of metal upon itself, as indicated at 34, the metalbeing 'so crimped that the grooves are formed therein, the grooves atthe front o f the box-like container being alined with those at the rearso that when a supplemental side wall is to be used, opposite endsthereof will be inserted in corresponding grooves and thus retain saidsupplemental side wall parallel with 'the permanent sidewalls of saidbox-like container.' v

In Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings we have shown two supplemental sidewalls 33 spaced-equal distances from the permanent sidewalls so as toprovide a space between the'two supplemental sidewalls equaling, orapproximately equaling the width of the sheet metalto be rolled. Inthismanner ,the sheet metal is drawnout by the rolls 9 diate chambers oftheoil-trough 24 feed ing oil, it is apparent that with the width ofmetal shown in the drawings, the roll could be situated at one side ofthe Abox-like.

side walls a distance equaling the'width of sired, the entire trough 24may be omitted and the oil fed onto the distributer dii rectly from thepet cocks.

When I the sheet metal is fully unrolled and it is desired to placea newroll of metal into the box-like container 6, the distributer 30 isremoved from said container and the combined oil-retainer and feederswung laterally, as indicated by dotted lines, dl `ig.

the metal. The sheet metal would then passw?, `or..to any position whereit will not feed out of the box-like container 6 underneatlr \oil intothe box-like container` it being of the first three or the last threechambers 2 of the oil trough 24, and consequently cor-- responding petcocks would be open to feed4 oil into said three chambers, while the petcocks above the tworemaining chambers 25 would be closed. v I

In the drawings we have shown the petcocks feeding oil from thecontaineriportion 19 into the three intermediate chambers 25 of thebil-trough 24 at a capacity to retain oil within said chambersV at alltimes.v The oil within said chambers drips through the drip openings 27onto the distributer 30, the absorbent covering of which becomesthoroughly saturated by capillary attraction, and this coveringdistributes the oil onto one side of the sheet metal at the rolledportion thereof and to the other side thereof at the unrolled portion orsingle strand, the unrolling of the metal causing rotation of saiddistributer so 'that the oil is fed onto different portions of saiddistributer at,all times, with the result that the absorbent coveringthereof becomes thoroughly satura-ted and-the surface moistenedv withoil to .the same degree at-all points thereof, thus assuring anV evendistribution of the oil onto the opposite sides of the sheet metal atall portions thereof. i

In the event that the oil fed to the distributer is found-to beexcessive, the pet cocks over the feeding chambers 25 may be closeduntil all the oil within said chambers has dripped therefromv` a'fterwhich the pet cocks may be opened to anextent to regulate the feed ofoil into said chambersv 25 to a degree that will prevent accumulation ofoil therein yet permit the `oilid'elivered thereinto to gradually dripthrough thel opening 2T at the lower ends thereof, thus allowing surplusoil on the distributer or within the absorbent covering thereoftobeconsumed. lt is of cource to be understood that when the sheet nietaltobe rolled is of greater width than herein shown, it may be foundnecessary that four or even five chambers 25 of the oil-trough 24 mustbe utilized. llVhile we have shown live pet cocks and ve chambers 25, itis apparent that the oiltrough 24 may be divided into a greater or asmaller number of chambers, and where the sheet metal rolled in av plantis always of the same width, the divisional Walls or partitions 26 maybe dispensedwith or, if deto the distributer lying in contact withopposite sides of the/sheetmetal, we do not wish to be confined to theuse of such a device, as any suitable oil feeding device ca- 5" coursenecessary to place a suitable recep- ,4

pable of supplying oil to the distributer in desired quantities could beefficiently einployed without departing from the principle of thisinvention; y

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is l. The combinationwith a rollingmachine having a pair of rolling-rolls, of a supp OrtfOr aroll of sheet metal having a portion thereof unrolled and passingbetween vsaid rolling-rolls, a 'distributer in contact with the rolledand the unrolled portions of said metal, and means for feeding oil tosaid distributer. i

2. r`hey combination with a pair of rollingrolls, of a support for ar'oll of sheet-metal having a portion thereof unrolled and leading toand passing between said rolling- `rolls,`said unrolled portionextending from the rolled portion of said roll of sheet metal to providea space between the two, a cylindrical distributer situated in saidspace and adapted to roll against opposite sides of the metal when beingunrolled, and means foi` feeding oil onto said distributei".

3. The combination with a pai-r of rolling rolls, of a box7likecontainer, a roll of sheet* metal within said container having a portionunrolledv and extending vto and passing between said rolling-rolls,v asupplemental wall Within saidl box-'like container, and means `forretaining said sup'pleriiental wall in one.

of a plurality -of positions within said container.

- 4. The combination with a pair of rollingrolls, o'f a box-likeycontainer having alined grooves lat opposite walls, a supplemental walladapted to fit in any two alined grooves, and a roll of sheet-metalplaced Within said container'and' confined between said supplementalwall and a wall of said container parallel therewith, said sheet- 'Ygrooves ateach of two Aopposite walls, the

grooves ofsaid walls being alined, a pair of supplementalsidewallsfadapted to have opposite'- zvends... thereof fitted in alinedgrooves', a rol-lli fj sheet-metal between said supplemental.side, wallshaving a portion thereof unrolled and extending to and passing betweensaid rolling-rolls, and an oil distributer 'in contactA with` saidsheet-metal within said container. l

6. The combination of an oil distributer acting against sheet-metal tobe oiled, a V shaped elonOated trough above said oil distributer dividedinto chambers, each chamber having drip openings at its lower en d, L-

and means for feeding oil into any numberV of said chambers. Y

7 An oiling device for the purpose described, comprising an oilcontainer and aplurality of pet cocks securedto the under side of saidcontainer, in combination with an oildistributer onto which oil isdelivered/* from said pet cocks and wherebyl the oil is distributed ontosheet-metal.

comprising an oil container having a plurality ofv controllable feedingelements/and a trough. arranged underneath saidl lcontainer land dividedintoA chambers 'correspondingin number to' thenumber of said feedingelements, onechamber being underneath each feeding element and eachchamber having a plurality of drip openings' therein. A

9. The combination with a box-like container having an' uprightextending from one wall thereof, a combined oil-container and feederrotatably mounted von said yupright, a roll of sheet-metal withinsaid/bb, like container having a .portion thereof/nrolled and .passingupwardly from said container, anda cylindrical distributer lying incontact with'zboth the unrolled portion and the rolled portion of saidsheet-metal and adapted to receive the oil from saidfeeder. l

10. The combination with a box-like con-t tainerhaving a roll ofsheet-metal therein with a portion of the metal unrolled and extendingupwardly therefrom, anupright on said box-like container, a combinedoil-container and feeder pivotally supported on said upright andcomprising an oil-container portion, a plurality. of pet cocks securedin the bottom of said oil-container portion and an oil-trough beneathsaid pet cocks dividedinto chambers and having one chamber underneatheach pet' cock7 each chamber having'a plurality of feed openings at itslower end, and an 'oil-distributer comprising a metallic body and anabsorbent covering for the same arranged underneath said oil-trough.

ll.y The combination with a box-like container having a roll of sheetmetal therein with a-portion thereof'unrolled and extenduterandcontrollable. to feed oil onto all or varied portions in the length ofsaid distributer.

Y12;fl`he combination witli a rolling machin/eJ having a paiifofrollingrolls, of a support for a roll of sheet metal having a -portion thereofunrolled and passing be- 8. An oiling device of the kind described, y

roll simultaneously lubricating both sides of said sheet ofl metal.

13. The combination with a -pair of rolling "rolls, ofla support for aroll of sheet metal having a portion thereof unrolled and passingbetween said rolling rolls, an Ioil distributing device in contact withsaid sheet metal to oil thesame, and an oil supplying device includingmeans for supply- .ing oil along selected lengths transversely.

14. The combination with a pair of rolling rolls, of avsupport for aroll of sheet metal having a portion thereof unrolled and passingbetween said rolling rolls, and means for supplying oil allong differenttransverse lengths to, distribute-oil ,according to the width of thesheet .metal In testimony whereof we aix our signatures.'.,"f

' HO'WARD N. LITTLE.

WALTER B. .GORMELY.

